Neuro Surgery & Tear Ducts?

[HaleyBear1015]

Ever since Haley's ventral slot procedure (spinal surgery for a ruptured disc in her neck) she has had an abundance of eye boogers and crusties. Lately the whites of her eyes have looked a little more red than usual. Her rehabilitation doctor suggested using Genteal eye drops to lubricate and that this could be due to an inability to produce tears following her surgery. I was surprised that one thing could affect the other but the doc said with neurological issues you really never know what could be a result and it could basically be anything. She said the boogers don't look like an infection cause there is no swelling or green gunk... just big pale yellow mucusey stuff and crust (sorry for the graphic grossness).
Has anything like this happened to anyone else? Should I take Haley to her GP vet to check it out? She's still not walking so it's a little hard to find the time and energy to get her around places aside from therapy.

Thoughts?

[CarolC]

What if you schedule the vet appointment immediately before or after PT? So...let's say you schedule it for after. On the day of PT you put her in the car, and take her to PT. Hopefully at PT they help you bring her in, and help you put her back in the car. Now she's in the car again. You drive to the vet. You leave her in the car and go in and tell them you have an 80-lb dog in the car and could they please have some of their young kennel techs come get her out of the car and bring her in. After she is seen, get them to take her out to the car, too. Then you go home. The idea would be that this way she gets her appointment but it is no extra lifting for you, just extra time spent? If it was my dog, I'd probably want to have it checked. I never heard the idea that disk surgery might cause goopy eyes. I know for example when you take a pet for spay surgery, they put some kind of artificial tears or eye lubricant in the eyes at the time of surgery to prevent drying. Since this started right after surgery, I wonder if the stuff they put in her eyes might have been contaminated somehow? I think I would try to rule out something common before assuming it was a permanent effect of the surgery. I seem to remember one of the moderators had a dog who developed dry eye, but for some reason with my hazy memory, I seem to remember it was caused by a medication, but don't trust me on that.

[HaleyBear1015]

Thanks Carol. Therapy is at 7:30pm on Tuesdays since that is the only night my boyfriend and I have off together and it's located about 40 minutes from my home. I also work an hour from home so by the time I get home I have enough time to change my clothes and get her into the car and leave. I am never home from therapy before 10pm and have to be up at 5:30 the next morning. So taking her to the vet during the week is out. Her vet hasn't seen her since November before her surgery so I know she needs to go to him eventually. He's very helpful though and whenever I call he knows how hard it's been so he just says to keep an eye on her until it's absolutely necessary that I bring her in.
She's definitely making a lot of progress and is acting like herself... the eyes is the only weird thing right now but they seem to look better the more frequently we use the GenTeal drops. At least her rehab doc is an actual vet who later became a physical therapist. I think I'll keep an eye on it for now and bring her in if it starts to look worse again. I was just wondering if anyone had any similar issues. I remember her surgeon mentioning something about the ventral slot maybe affecting sinuses and nasal cavities but maybe it's all connected somehow? Strange.

[critters]

Well, the eyes and nose/sinuses are connected for sure--unless the outlets are plugged, eyes drain into the nose, so maybe it makes a bit of sense.

[slshepherds]

Hi

The dry eye Carol mentioned was Carl my paraplegic lab and for him was caused by TMS that he was getting for a UTI. Literally overnight his tear production went from normal to zero, which was both painful and affected his vision. Carl needed several medications to keep his eyes lubricated until his normal tear production resumed. I would always have any eye problem checked out as soon as possible, just to be safe.

Wishing Haley the best
Joanne

[CarolC]

That was it, thank you!

Therapy is at 7:30pm on Tuesdays since that is the only night my boyfriend and I have off together and it's located about 40 minutes from my home. I also work an hour from home so by the time I get home I have enough time to change my clothes and get her into the car and leave. I am never home from therapy before 10pm and have to be up at 5:30 the next morning. So taking her to the vet during the week is out.

Some day you will look back at your post and remember what it was like! At least it will be better when the weather warms up and it is light out longer. The days are getting longer already, hang in there!

I'm in a city where there is only one facility within driving distance with canine PT. Fortunately, it is a good facility and the therapist really cares. They used to schedule appointments and let your watch your dog execise. Then they moved to a new facility clear across town and changed to drop-off only. It is a 40-minute drive one way for me and I work full time. So they arranged 2 regular days a week for me, Tuesday and Thursday, and I have to be there at 8 am sharp. They give my dog her half hour of quality exercise (which my dog loves!) and we go home. Then they proceed to handle the other dogs as you describe, working them in during the day because they are all drop-offs.

I am very, very grateful I have a choice of not doing that drive twice per day, but unfortunately I am always on the night shift every Tuesday and Wednesday so that means I get as little sleep as possible because I have to get up at 6:40 Tuesday even though I'm working late (making for a long day), and then when I get off the late shift Wednesday, I have to get up at the crack of dawn Thursday to get her over there again (making for a very short night). I do not have the option of getting enough sleep. But we keep going because it is really good for her.

I take my dog to hydrotherapy twice a week. It is by referral-only like the facility you describe. It's a 40-minute drive each way and our appointments are always at 8 a.m. and I work the late shift so they never see me on a full night's sleep. You get used to it.

[HaleyBear1015]

Oh man, so basically the same situation you had. It's really difficult but at least the more mobile she gets the easier it's been on me. I plopped her down yesterday on her way being carried outside and she actually stood on her own for a good 20 seconds! Every day is a tiny bit of progress. I can't WAIT until the day when I can look back on this and be like #### that was rough! When she starts walking again my boyfriend and I are both going to cry like little babies!

[CarolC]

Standing for 20 seconds! Woohoo!!!

I was thinking about it this evening and it reminded me of another large dog who had the same situation (neck surgery). It was a happy ending after an untold amount of hard work.

http://handicappedpet.net/helppets/view ... =4&t=15592